Department for Transport

Aviation: Ombudsman

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussionsthey are havingwith the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that air travellers have access to an independent ombudsman service able to provide quality dispute resolution in the light of the Ryanair and Monarch service failures.

lord callanan: Ryanair has an arrangement in place with an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) body which means that all of its passengers have access to a high standard of dispute resolution, similar to an ombudsman, for consumer disputes. Most airlines have contracts with ADR bodies and over 70% of UK passengers are now covered. The Government discusses progress on the provision of ADR regularly with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and we will also be considering consumer issues in the sector as part of the development of a new Aviation Strategy. As Monarch are no longer an operating company, dispute resolution is not an appropriate means for passengers to seek redress. The Government is committed to supporting those affected by the insolvency of Monarch Airlines. Further information can be found at the dedicated CAA microsite https://monarch.caa.co.uk, and helpline on 0300 303 2800 (UK), or +44 1753 330 330 (from overseas).

Consumer Dispute Resolution

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of Consumer Dispute Resolution Ltd to provide effective and appropriate dispute resolution for air travellers during periods of high service disruption.

lord callanan: Consumer Dispute Resolution Ltd (CDRL) has been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to provide an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service for complaints against airlines or airports. The purpose of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is to provide effective redress for consumers after events such as a cancellation or a long delay to a flight. In order to escalate a complaint against an airline or airport through ADR, both of the UK ADR schemes approved by the CAA require the consumer to have already complained to the airport or airline directly in writing and either received a final written response or to have given the airline or airport at least eight weeks to respond to the dispute. CDRL’s scheme rules include a commitment to reach a determination within 60 working days of receiving the complete complaint file. The CAA has not made any assessment of CDRL's capacity to provide effective and appropriate dispute resolution for air travellers during periods of high service disruption. ADR bodies do not have a role in assisting travellers during disruption and an ADR body would not be expected to intervene during a disruption event, for example, as the CAA did recently following the mass cancellation of flights by Ryanair.

Borders Railway Line

lord steel of aikwood: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government about re-opening the rest of the Waverley route from Edinburgh to Carlisle following the partial opening to Tweedbank.

lord callanan: In line with the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence, the promotion and construction of railways that start, end and remain in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government. We look to the relevant local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the Transport for the North partnership, in developing a comprehensive transport strategy for the North of England, to decide whether to engage with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders on the commissioning of such assessments.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Bombardier: Northern Ireland

lord empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they provided to Bombardier Aircraft Division for the "C" Series aircraft; what was the amount of that support; and when that support was forthcoming, and under what terms.

lord empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether monies provided by them to Bombardier Aircraft Division for the "C" Series aircraft were examined for compliance with EU state aid rules; and, if so, with what result.

lord prior of brampton: The UK Government's Repayable Launch Investment of £113.37 million to support Bombardier Aerospace (Shorts) in the design and development of the C Series aircraft wings was notified to the European Commission on 19 December 2008; and was approved on 18 June 2009.Terms of the repayable launch investment are commercially sensitive.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Food

baroness jones of whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total amount of food waste generated by BEIS offices for each of the last five years.

lord prior of brampton: The total amount of food waste generated by BEIS offices for each of the last five years is shown in the attached table. Entries shaded in grey are estimates.



BEIS food waste statistics
(Word Document, 16.03 KB)

Pregnancy: Discrimination

marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what if any proposals they have to provide new and expectant mothers with further protections from redundancy; and whether they have any plans to address the use of confidentiality agreements in out of court settlements which prevent women from speaking publicly about their treatment.

lord prior of brampton: The Government’s response to Women and Equalities Select Committee Inquiry into pregnancy and maternity discrimination earlier this year said that we “will consider further and bring forward proposals to ensure that the protections in place for those who are pregnant or returning from maternity leave are sufficient”. We are reviewing whether we need stronger protection against redundancy for pregnant women and women returning from maternity leave and will consult on options in due course.The Government has no plans to address the use of confidentiality agreements. Employees and employers need the freedom to reach a mutually acceptable negotiated settlement, so the Government does not want to impose further constraints on the provisions of settlement agreements.

Business: Billing

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 29 June (HL53), stating that the Payment Practices Reporting online service will be available for users to begin reporting their payment practices from October, whether that online service has yetbeen launched and advertised; and out of the estimated15,200 businessesin scope to comply with the payment practices and performance reporting requirements,how manyhave so farbeen issued an invitation to use the service.

lord prior of brampton: The Payment Practices Reporting online service has been launched on the GOV.UK website, and is now available to all businesses in scope of the requirements without the need for an invitation. The Department is now working to raise awareness of the existence of the service, including by contacting business representative bodies. Before the service was launched, 350 invitations were issued. The Department does not hold information on how many of these invitations were issued to businesses in scope of the requirement.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Israel: West Bank

baroness sheehan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Israel regarding the possible demolition of Khan al-Ahmar.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Government remains gravely concerned about continued demolition of Palestinian property by the Israeli authorities including proposals to demolish the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar. Such demolitions could pave the way for settlement building in E1, threatening the possibility of a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital. The UK has repeatedly called on Israeli authorities to halt proposals to demolish Khan al-Ahmar. Prior to the most recently scheduled Israeli High Court hearing on the matter on 25 September – subsequently postponed - our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised our concerns with the Israeli authorities on 24 September. The Foreign Secretary expressed our concern about the proposals when he met Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel on 8 March.

Department for International Development

Development Aid

lord blencathra: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bates on 25 September (HL 1590), whether the OECD's Development Assistance Committee has legally binding rules or only recommendations which no country is obliged to follow.

lord bates: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, of which the UK is a member, sets the rules that determine what aid counts as Official Development Assistance (ODA). Only spending that complies with these rules is recognised as counting towards the United Nations’ 0.7% of gross national income target for ODA to which the UK is committed. That commitment is enshrined in the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015.

Ministry of Justice

Alternatives to Prison

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of creating alternative penalties for offences that normally require custodial sentences in order to address overcrowding in prisons.

baroness vere of norbiton: Sentencing is a matter for the independent courts. The law already allows judges to impose a non-custodial sentence, even when the threshold for a custodial term is reached.Sentencing Guidelines are clear that sentencers must consider all the available disposals in any given case and will impose the sentence most appropriate to the offence and offender.

Prisoners' Release

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that prisoners know about, and have effective access to, release on temporary licence.

baroness vere of norbiton: Instructions issued in 2015 require each prison governor to make available to prisoners information on the sort of release on temporary licence (ROTL) opportunities available locally and how prisoners can access them.The evidence shows that temporary release from prison can help ensure offenders do not return to crime when they leave prison, and compliance rates stand at well over 99%. We want to maintain improvements made to ROTL recently while allowing governors greater discretion so that prisoners get the skills and training they need.

Youth Custody

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to respond to the Local Government Association's request for an urgent action plan to improve conditions in youth custody provision, following the conclusion by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, set out in the 2016–17 Annual Report of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, that "there was not a single establishment…inspected…in which it was safe to hold children and young people."

baroness vere of norbiton: The Government is determined to improve safety and reduce the risk of serious incidents, violence and self-harm in youth custody. We acknowledge that levels of violence within the youth estate are too high and outcomes for children and young people in custody are not good enough. Following the Government’s response to Charlie Taylor’s review of the youth justice system, a new Youth Custody Service (YCS) has been created to focus on performance in the Youth Secure Estate and a Youth Justice Reform Programme has been established.The aims of the programme are to improve standards by making youth custody a place of safety, both for young people and those who work there; and to improve the life chances of young people in custody. We are investing £64 million to entrench the reform of youth custody. We will boost the number of frontline staff in youth offender institutions by 20% – 120 additional recruits, including newly trained specialist youth justice workers, equipped to tackle the needs of young offenders. We are also developing two new Secure Schools.

Prisoners

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what new initiatives they plan to pursue to support those prisoners with few or no family contacts.

baroness vere of norbiton: The government is committed to supporting prisoners establish or maintain relationships with their families and significant others. We recognise that we need also to support prisoners who do not have family links, or for whom family relationships are not appropriate, to develop alternative sources of support.Prisons already collect and record the details of prisoners’ next of kin or nominated contact when they arrive at the prison as a requirement of the Early Days in Custody Prison Service Instruction 17/2015. Prisoners who do not identify contacts are flagged and prison staff or partner agencies encourage them through their sentence plan to establish and develop appropriate relationships.In October governors were given control over family services in their prison, to strengthen their ability to support the specific needs of their prisoners including through commissioning services tomanage visits centres, deliver family learning programmes and provide family engagement workers, who can support prisoners who do not have contact with family.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Private Rented Housing

the lord bishop of rochester: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the private rented sector is affordable to those on Housing Benefit orUniversal Credit.

baroness buscombe: This information is not available. Affordability is dependent on many factors, for example rent levels in the area the claimant lives, the size of their household and other sources of income they may receive in addition to their housing benefit or universal credit entitlement.